KINGS of MACEDON, Alexander III ‘the Great’. Babylonia. Taxla Mint. Silver. Dekadrachm or 5 Shekel piece. 40.93 g. Ca. 327 B.C.E.
Alexander riding on Buchephalus right, lancing at retreating war elephant bearing Indian warrior, who leans back to seize the spear (sarissa), and mahout, who turns back, raises spear above head and carries a second spear and goad (the latter figure obliterated on this specimen); above / Alexander in battle attire standing left, his crested Phrygian helmet fitted with tall feather, holding thunderbolt and sarissa and crowned by Nike above flying to right; in lower left field, BA monogram
Condition: Partly weak, otherwise very fine.
Published:
Coin World, 19 November 1980, p. 3.
M.J. Price, “The ‘Poros’ coinage of Alexander the Great: a symbol of concord and community”, Studia Paulo Naster oblata, p. 76, A/c (ii) and pl. 9, 3.
Provenance:
Mesopotamia Hoard, 1973 (Coin Hoards I, 38).
S. Weintraub Collection.
One of eight known examples with the finest portrait of Alexander on the reverse.
In addition to the coinage with the usual designs (see the previous dekadrachm), some very rare dekadrachms were also struck for Alexander, but depicting a very different scene. From the fact that they show Alexander on his horse Bucephalus attacking an Indian elephant, they were thought to show Alexander’s defeat of the Indian king Porus in 326 BC and hence are generally known today as the ‘Porus medallions’.
This description is, however, misleading, as recent evidence and research has shown. Some specimens of the dekadrachm, including this piece, were included in a hoard found in Mesopotamia in 1973. This shows, firstly, that they are not, as used to be thought, medallions, and, secondly, when they were made. The hoard was deposited in Mesopotamia 323/322 BC, but some pieces, including this specimen of the dekadrachm, show signs of wear, thereby suggesting a date in the early 320s BC for its minting. This consideration disproves the contention of P. Bernard that they were struck in 317/316 BC by Eudamos, a satrap of the Punjab (Orientalia Iosephi Tucci memoriae dicata, 1985, pp. 65-94).
The reconsideration of the iconography by M.J. Price has cast doubt on the traditional view that the scene commemorates Alexander’s victory over Porus. That view seems rather unlikely, since Porus was treated as an ally by Alexander after the battle, and would hardly have been subjected to the humiliation of a coin type celebrating his defeat. It seems more likely that the coin is a reflection of Alexander’s use of Indian forces, including war elephants, during his campaigns. It may even be that the coins were made after his alliance in 327 with Taxiles, the ruler of the Kabul valley (in modern Afghanistan), and it has recently been suggested that the coins were actually struck by Taxiles as part of the gift of money he gave Alexander.
But, if the details of the circumstances of issue are intriguing, the same is even more true of the figure depicted on the reverse. This represents Alexander himself. He is shown holding a Macedonian cavalry spear or sarissa, and wearing a crested Phrygian helmet adorned with a tall feather: exactly the battle costume Alexander is described as wearing by Plutarch. He is crowned by a small victory and holds the thunderbolt of Zeus, one of the divine symbols incorporated as part of Alexander’s iconography by the famous Greek painter Apelles.
HUNT I, 103
